You're Overdue for a Meeting!

anonymous Asks ...

Life hurts so much I can’t take it unless I am drunk. I has 6 months sober a few years ago and it was the best time of my life but I could not keep it and I can not get it back. My need is too strong it is stronger than anything. I am in so much pain and I feel like I do not know what to do.

Dr. Mark Abrahams Says ...

But you most likely already knew that. This on-line counseling site is great, but it is not a substitute for an Alcoholics Anonymous® meeting. I used to take shy clients to meetings years ago when I was working as a substance abuse counselor on a full-time basis. I wrote a paper of the effectiveness of the 12 steps which was published by a professional counseling journal years ago, and I still support the philosophy.

Bill Wilson created A.A. much like a Yoga discipline, in which one works to eliminate the grosser problems first, then the increasingly more subtle problem areas. Problem areas range from the gross physical aspects of addiction, up through social consequences, psychological difficulties, and finally spiritual maladies. Bill Wilson corresponded with the great psychologist C.G. Jung over the spiritual problem of meaninglessness that beset alcoholics, and learned how a religious experience is necessary for healing to begin. Regardless of your own religious convictions, or total lack of them, an Ultimate Reality is undeniable. How one regards the Ultimately Real (personal, impersonal, or transpersonal) is up to each individual, but it is critical that one begins to acknowledge a Power that is greater than your ego, and that you need to become aware of 'It' if you are ever to become healthy.

In addition to the steps themselves, you need a social support network, and undoubtedly a sponsor. Sit in on open meetings and find one group that suits you. Please do not shop around, find flaws with every group, and give up. Denial and blaming are first and second, but rationalization may well be the third most common defense mechanism in these matters. Also, the choice to Awaken from the semi-conscious existence you have been trapped in is an individual choice, so you have to be on your own when you choose to attend a meeting. Give yourself a chance and you'll make friends there, which is another motive for doing 90 meetings in 90 days. I wish you the best on your journey!